Boatsmith Shavings

Tripanel and Veneer

2012-01-06T12:18:00.000-05:00

The interiors of the Liberty Yachts are built of Tri Cell Panels. This is a very light weight,stable material. It is 1.5 mm of Okoume plyon each side of a paper like core. I relly likemaking boat interiors of this material.
These panels will add some storage to each side of the forepeak. Here we are trimming the doors and door holes with teak edging. Then we sand it flush with the face of the panel and veneer the piece. We also install small blocks for hinge,latch and stay attachement points.

They get painted and varnished before going back to the boat for installation.

Here is the new bed cabinet. The washer dryer fits into the center section. A side panel can be seen installed to the upper right.

One big thing we are doing is adding windows to the windsheild area of the boat. This boat was built originally without front windows. They really add a lot to the space inside.

We cut out the existing cored structure and then built in fanges and painted the area.

More to come.

First Fiberglass Ariki Hull

2011-12-31T19:42:00.000-05:00

With the mold well waxed we put a sheet of plastic over it to fit our fabric.

Below we have sprayed the mold with PVA, a mold release coating.

Here we have the first layer of glass on.

After the inner skin is layed up we start adding Coosa board to high load areas of the hull. Coosa board is a high density foam filled with layers of glass fibers.We will use it along the rubrail, the keel and stem,where the chainplates and beam lashings go and where through hulls will penetrate the hull.

We have cut the foam to fit and are getting ready to coat it with resin and vacuum bag it to the hull.

This is our first bag of the foam and we started small.

Here we have all the foam on and have added the keel and stem strips. Along the entire stem and keel we used a 6" wide piece of 3/8" thick foam instead of the 5/8" foam that we are using for the hull. Then we feathered the 5/8" foam down to the 3/8". This allows us to have some space to add the keel overlaps and doublers without causing a hump that would be difficult to fair out.

Here is the skeg and the stern post added and partially reinforced.

Next we will cut a shallow rebate into the foam for the glass overlaps in the outer skin. This will make our fairing easier.

I didn't get a photo of the rebate before we got glass on it.

This is with the first layer of glass on. The clearance for the next two layers is visible here.
Below the clearance at the top for the hull to deck joint doublings.

Below we have the next layer of glass on. We will next put two more keel strips and a layer of mat for the outside surface. Then we will roll on several coats of bog and start fairing.

Liberty Yachts Revisited Yacht Interior

2011-12-26T16:25:00.001-05:00

Liberty Yachts closed their doors in 2009. But Bill and Linda who we built the interior for on "Lidda" (Liberty #18) really like their boat. In fact they like it so much that they bought Liberty #17 and are having us remodel and refurbish the boat. We are doing this work in Cracker Boy Boat Works in Riviera Beach, FL. Bill and Linda are very experienced boaters and had their boat built and equipped just the way they wanted it. Liberty #17 was set up differently than Lidda and had some different equipment. We are changing the interior and some of the equipment. Below is the interior as we built #17 originaly 7 years ago.

This interior was built for the guy who first had the boat built. Bill and Linda saw this boat as it was being built and were impressed with our work among other things about the boat. We then built this interior for them on #18.

As part of the remodeling of #17, we are adding a washer dryer under the forward bunk. This requires a new bunk as it needs to raise up several inches for clearance. We will also remove the starboard settee and cabinet and install a cantilevered table with two barrel chairs and a slide-up TV very much like their other boat "Lidda" is set up.

Here's a picture of us getting started on this remodel by removing the forward bunk and starboard settee. More information and pictures to come in future posts.

Waxing Ariki Catamaran Mold

2011-11-22T18:02:00.000-05:00

Well we sanded and sanded and then we glassed the inside of the mold to stabilize it. We went from a period of moderate humidity to our normal very high humidity and the mold started moving on us. So we added a layer of CSM to the interior surface of the mold. This closed it up and then we were able to sand some more to complete the fairing. The guys were not excited to be almost done with the sanding to realize that we had to fair it again. The has now been done and we are now into the polishing phase.

Now we have sanded the surface of the mold to 320 grit. This will be smooth enough. This surface will be the interior surface of the hull and will get bulkheads, floors and furniture bonded onto it and then painted. We will wax it 7-8 times over the next few days and then we will be ready to build our first hull form this mold.

Sand and Sand and Sand.......

2011-10-22T10:30:00.001-04:00

.People say that when you tweak a design that you will cause yourself much work downstream. I'm here to tell you that that be the truth brotha. The camber that we added seem to be a big deal,, until we tried to fair in the sides to the stem. We pulled out the first and second frame from each end and reshaped them to gradually change from a convex shape to a straight line at the stem. I didn't want any hollows to detract from the original classic Ariki lines. We narrowed up the entry and put some of the gautness back into the fwd sections. Lots of bogging and sanding. At the stern we let the shape roll through from convex to a concave line to include the skeg.

We have added a flange to the bottom of the mold to stiffen the partand allow someplace to bond pull points to dor demolding the part. This will also be where we sealof the mold for vacuum bagging.

We precut the two top pieces of fabric.

We are using polyester resin for this mold and after the fiberglass was apllied we rolled on two coats of thickend resin to fill the weave and give us something besides just glass to sand.

Here is a view showing the camber. Three inches over 80". This camber is good in a composite stucure as it implies a lot of panel stiffness. This allows for the elimination of stringers on the interior hull surface which simplifies building and maintenence. We will now get the longboards out again and sand this surface fair. At that point we will spray the mold with gelcoat and sand it some more.

Wharram Fiberglass Ariki Catamaran

2011-09-03T16:29:00.002-04:00

We have a contract to build a new catamaran for a fellow here in FL. He decided that he wanted an Ariki. This is a 45' classic design from James Wharram. I have several other folks interested in this size boat as well and I had been getting ready to build a hull mold for a Tiki 36. Well I thought about it and decided that a hull mold for a boat that was sold versus one on spec made alot of sense. My client agreed to have the boat built in foam core glass and Hanneke of James Wharram Designs modified the lines a little bit to make it a little better for the glass and here we go.

This shows a model of the Ariki built by my friend and very talented designer/artist Kevin Hutchinson. He has had the hots for an Ariki for 15 some years. He had this model floating around his studio and when I told him we were bulding one he brought this down for inspiration. Alongside are the frames for the model of the Tiki 36 that Kevin helped me work up. Next to the left is the mold that we made from this set of frames and a little more to the left is one of the hulls we pulled from this mold.

We are going to build the Ariki using the same technique. This is referred to as building from a male mold. It does mean we will have to fair off the outside and paint it, but the inside will come off the mold ready to tab in bulkheads and will be very fair.

We put some tables together to loft the boat out full size.

We then transferred the frame shape to some 3/4" plywood and added legs to attach them to the strongback below.

Next we leveled out the strongback and attached the frames and the stem and sternpost.

Below we have started strip planking the mold. We cut 3/4" strips from 2x6s and screwed them to the frames. We edge nailed them with an air gun and connected the butts on the inside with little squares of 1/4" plwood screwed on.

The strip planking went very smoothly and we have completed both sides up to the stem foot.

Next we will have to sand and fair this out for a layer of glass to use as the surface of our mold.

The graffiti is a guide coat to help us sand and fair.

New Mast for Wanderbird

2011-04-17T22:25:00.000-04:00

Wanderbird is a 50 tear old wooden ketch with a pronounced work boat flavor. The owner had built the mainmast for more than 25 years ago from a tree he cut down in his backyard. It is visible behind the trailer which has two utility poles on it. It is literally falling apart.

These poles are not actually very straight when purchased. The pole was 12" at the butt and 8" at the top and our spar will be 6" at the base, 8" at the partners and only 4" at the top. We used electric planes to straighten the spar and start to work it down to size.

This is the headstock of my lathe. I also have a full set of face plates for this lathe with the largest being 10' in diameter.

This is the tail stock and also a center rest/support that we built for this application. We poured 12" thick concrete pads under the head stock and tail stock and bolted them down in place.

Here we have the spar chucked up in the lathe and are ready to go.

Here is the tool holder for this lathe.It weighs several hundred pounds and takes 3 of us to drag along the work.

The problem with this whole set-up is that the pole is not round and in column when we start working on it.

This means that the pole flops around on the center support.It seemed as though it would be simple to just plane off the high spots. But when we marked the top when it spins I can't tell if the hump is on the bottom and pushing the pole up or if the hump is on the top and just needs to be planed off. The pole, at 50' long is also very spindly and flexible.You can see the out of roundness in the photo below. When the wood spins around and hits the cutter the pole flexes away and starts wobbling harmonically.Even with very light cuts and a sharp cutter the flopping would happen.

My center support started off as a pair of pneumatic wheels that were woefully undersized. The flopping blew out one of the tires.

In this photo we changed the two pneumatic wheels with 4 steel wheels of 14" diameter. This didn't work out any better because there was no give and the flopping was just more violent. The wood also was compressing where it rode on the wheels. I learned that the folks who really know this stuff have a center rest that is round and opens up and clamps onto the pole and the rest the rolls on rollers and any out of roundness can then be trimmed off.

We ended up finishing the shaping of this spar with the planes and sanders. We ended up using the lathe just to hold and rotate the spar.

We completed the shaping of the spar and painted it and mounted all of the hardware to it.

We have delivered it to Indiantown Marina for installation.

The crane has just set the mast.

The owner is in the foreground and is very happy with his new stick. We have learned a lot about the process involved in turning a long part. next time we will be more up to speed.

New Carl Stambaugh 36' Sharpie

2010-11-30T12:30:00.000-05:00

I was recently out at Indiantown Marina to do a little job on a sailboat. I like to go out there because there are usually a few boats that are not just like all the others. I was certainly not disappointed this time. Tied up right next to the office was this delightful little sharpie.

The owners were aboard and gave me the tour and the low down. The boat was built by Ron and Judy Gabriel in Palm City, FL. Ron recently retired from American Custom Yachts in Stuart, FL. They are a well renown builder of custom wood composite sport fishing yachts. This sharpie was designed by Carl Stambaugh of Chesapeake Marine Design. She is very nicely built and outfitted.

The above pictures show the fine lines of this boat. for a sharpie to sail well she must be narrow. The masts on this boat are tapered aluminum flagpole stock. She also has an 3400 lb external lead stub keel which enhances her seaworthiness. She still only draws 24" with her board up. The board is actually a daggerboard .

Above is the line which pulls the daggerboard up.The builder changed to a daggerboard for more interior room. The daggerboard trunk fits neatly into the head wall.

Here is a view into the head and the lower photo shows the holding tank. The holding tank is mounted above the through hull for easy draining when appropriate.

Everywhere you look the finish is nice and clean.

The electrical panel is accessible from the backside via a panel in the forepeak.

A view into the forepeak.

The saloon table with storage inside.The boat is trimmed out with Sitka Spruce throughout and is very pretty.

A simple functional galley.

A spacious cockpit is located amidships with the entrance to the aft cabin visible.

A look inside the aft cabin.

The other side of the aft cabin. As everywhere, it is finished off cleanly and simply.

The bronze portlights throughout the boat are from Robin Hood Marine in Maine and are very nicely finished.
This boat is offered for sale at the very reasonable price of $75,000. She has been launched less than a year.
She is currently in the water in Stuart. She will also be attending the Wharram Rendezvous there Dec.10-12.
This IMO is a great deal on a very sweet sharpie. She draws appreciation where ever she goes.

George Beuler's Diesel Duck 44 "Pepi"

2010-11-28T15:20:00.000-05:00

Warren and Robin Kelly decide a few years ago to move aboard a boat and do some traveling. They started off a a V-39 designed by Mark Van Abeema.They spent a couple of years playing on that boat and did most of the great circle cruise. Then they decided to change directions and boats.
After some research and investigation they decided to commission a new build of a Diesel Duck 44 designed by George Beuler. George is the author of the book "Backyard Boatbuilding". This book has provided inspiration and impetus to many boatbuilders, myself included. The Warrens built there boat at a yard in Turkey ,recommended by Beuler that has built several of the Ducks.
I had the pleasure of a tour of the boat and several hours of chatting with Warren last week and took some photos to share. They are in no real order.
This is looking aft at the ladder to the wheelhouse from the saloon. The boat has only one stateroom. The Warrens built the boat for the use that they had in mind. The sole is real teak and holly, not plywood.

The galley runs down the port side between the saloon and the stateroom.

To port, as you enter the stateroom is a washer/dryer.

The bunk is on centerline with access from both sides and lots of storage.

The heart.

I somehow missed a picture of the helm station. This is the settee and table in the wheelhouse. The windows wrap all the way around.

This view is from the stateroom looking into the engine room. Every thing looks very clean.

A shot from the dock of the wheelhouse. The boat has a main sail and a big jib on a furler.

Behind the cockpit is a storage locker big enough to hold a couple of bicycles.

The exterior is all finished simply and cleanly.

This view is from the cockpit looking into the wheelhouse.

The Warrens spent two years living in Turkey while the boat was being built and the spent some time cruising in the eastern med before sending the boat back to the US via Dockwise. Their plans have again changed and they are unable to use this boat as they had dreamed of and have decided to offer her up for sale. This appears to be a well made vessel that is ready do do some comfortable economical cruising.
Warren Kelly can be reached at warob02 at mac.com

James Wharram Catamaran less or more than a Tiki 38

2010-08-15T15:42:00.000-04:00

   We built our first Wharram catamaran, a Tiki 30 2 years ago. We have a blog bout the construction and sailing of that boat at http://tiki30.blogspot.com/ . We have sailed this boat several thousand miles since launching and spent many weeks on board in the Bahamas, the Keys and the west coast of Florida. We have also exhibited her at several boat shows and had a received a lot of feedback.
   The boat sails very well in most conditions and is very comfortable most of the time. But there are a few features or lack thereof which could be improved upon. Several people who have spent time on this boat and have many years of experience on a variety of sailboats sat with me several times and we discussed the issues and went through several versions before we decided that we had made some significant progress.
   First we added 6" to the aft end of the boat. It seems like most if not all Tiki 30s trim down in the stern.The bows tend to be very empty and light. We added a fourth beam 5' behind the beam right behind the house.We lengthened the houses by 1' for more space in the galley and nav area.
We also raised the sheer height by 1'. This is to increase the bridge deck clearance to 3'. Sometimes when our Tiki 30 is jamming along at speed in seas we would thump pretty hard. This really slowed us down when going to weather.Raising the sheer also provides us with wider main bunks and makes the fwd bunk spaces much more comfortable. It also allows us to achieve standing headroom in the galley and the nav area.
We used the space in the starboard hull between the 3rd and 4th beam to have a separate head compartment. By building a small house to the height of the top of the beams we are able to get decent sitting headroom over the toilet and you can stand in the companionway to the head.
In the same space to port we have include a storage compartment for the propane bottles as well as a large space to store foulies and wet suits. Also we have included a shower that can be used in the companionway or on deck.
   Behind the main cockpit we have put in a helm station. tiller steering or wheel steering are can be accommodated. The helm station has a fwd windscreen and roll down side curtains for helm protection in cold and/or wet weather.
    We have included two twenty HP outboards in this design for stellar motoring speeds and great maneuverability. These motors are power tilt and are located under the seats in the main cockpit area. Being in the center of the boat will minimize cavitation and increase maneuverability. Batteries and fuel tanks are also stored under cockpit seats. There are also built in ice chests in the cockpit
   We have included two 160 watt solar panels atop the bimini and 4 8d batteries for increased electrical generation and capacity. This is to allow for the use of either an ice maker or an electric reefer unit.
I like to sail and I especially like to sail fast. To facilitate this we have used a 42' aluminum mast with a big roach full battened square top main with a mast head rig. To help even more with light air performance we have added a retractable carbon bowsprit on which we can fly a srceecher or asymmetrical spinnaker. Working sail area is 650 sqft. It's ok to reef when needed.
   The beam has been increased to 19'8". The weight will come in between 4500 and 5000 lbs. The idea here is to build a bigger faster boat than the Tiki 30, while keeping the small boat feel and performance. The Tiki 38 is a much larger, heavier boat and does not have the same good sailing ability as the Tiki 30.

Here are some drawings of this design. Any thoughts or comments are welcome.

Cool Tables on a Sabre Yacht

2010-07-23T10:14:00.000-04:00

We were recently asked to build some custom tables for a 40' Sabre Yacht. The first table was for the settee next to the helm station. They wanted a table that would support a laptop and swing out of the way and be removable when they didn't want it at all.

The leg is carbon fiber over pvc pipe with the base squared off to prevent it from rotating. The bracket at the top is built up from fiberglass with a locking screw built in to fix the tables orientation.

This is not a great picture, but it is the fiberglass receiver which mounts under the step into which the leg goes.We are clamping the glass between forms to form the bracket.

Below is the top bracket in progress.

Here is the leg hole. The receiver bracket is screwed and glued to the floor and the two vertical pieces of the settee under the step. We had to install this through an AC register. Not easy at all. You can see the edge of the fiberglass receiver bracket in the corner. The squared off bottom of the leg is tapered slightly to permit easy removal and installation.

A little teak plug to cover the hole when the table is removed. This is before the plug was varnished.
The owners did not like the standard dinette style table and wanted to put a larger TV in. We took out the cabinet that the original TV was in and built a new cabinet that was only deep enough to hold the electronic audio visual components. I met with the Missus and came up with a design that she approved. We were almost complete with the installation and she said well you aren't going to put that there, are you? (This being the knee to support the table as per the drawings she had blessed). So she didn't want the knee. I then designed a bracket that mounted onto the wall and cantilevered out to support the table. Having built several tables of this type the structural design standard is whether it is strong enough to have a go on or not. She laughed and said it indeed needed to be that strong. We built the bracket of Divinycell foam and fiberglass with some carbon fiber applied for extra rigidity. We painted it black and attached it securely to the side of the house. We screwed and glued the table top down to the cabinet top and bracket.

The photo above is a compass rose we put in to cover the holes that attached the old table bracket. Below is the wall with the electronic components attached.

We extended the counter top to form the new table.

Below you can see the end of the bracket under the table. What you can't see is the part of the bracket that is inside of the cabinet and attached to the wall. Don't know where those photos went. Also visible her is the support for the table leaf extension in its' retracted position.

Here is the table extension and the support extended.

Here is the table with the extra leaf in place. The owners were very pleased with both tables.

Wharram Tiki 38 Relaunched in Hawaii

2010-06-21T12:20:00.002-04:00

Almost two years ago I had the good fortune to be doing some yacht work at Bay Ship and Yacht
in the San Fransisco Bay. This was especially cool because this was the time that Beat Rettamund and Beatriz Restrepo were launching there Tiki 38 catamaran "Aluna". Over the several course of the several months that we were working there I was able to visit with Beat and Beatriz and even attend the launching party and go on some sails. Lucky man am I.Last year they left the Bay area and sailed to Hawaii. After spending some time stocking the kitty, spreading and absorbing good energy and battling the man ,they have relaunched "Aluna" and have departed for the Southern Pacific. I am here still working and quite envious of them. They are really nice folks and if you happen to see them out there, say Hi .

Wharram Tiki 38 Catamarans For Sale

2010-06-14T13:33:00.012-04:00

This first boat appears to me to be a very clean example of a well built Tiki 38. It is ready to go in Ottawa Canada. The photos show a nice finish and good equipment. I believe he is asking around $80,000 for the boat. I expect it will have new owners soon
The Tiki 38 is one James Wharram Designs mos popular cruising designs.

This next boat is in the UK and is only partially complete. This would be a huge start to someone. This is the only photo I have seen so it is hard to judge build quality. The owner states the boat is %75 complete. I think that this is not really very accurate. He is asking $15,00 BSP or best offer.
With a tall container and some good packing I believe you could get it into one container. This would cost about $3,000 to Miami. This would not count packing.

Speedboat and Genuine Risk

2010-06-07T16:06:00.013-04:00

I really look forward to working in Cracker Boy Boat Works in Riviera Beach, FL as there are usually some cool raceboats there. I have shown some pics of Speedboat in the past. They were rigging both Speedboat and Genuine Risk. These are awesome machines.

This mast is worth more than most sailboats in the world. Five sets of spreaders, all carbon and synthetic lines, wow.
These boats have canting keels which can be levered outto windward for an immense righting force.
One of the reasons these boats come to Cracker Boy is that there is sufficient water here. This boat draws 18'.

Just barely fits into the slip for the travel lift.
There is a lot of work going on now prepping the boat to go north for this years Bermuda race and to be ready for another attempt at a trans Atlantic attempt.
I will follow with another post with some very cool photos that I snagged off the internet.

Reuel Parkers Ibis is Launched

2010-02-15T10:54:00.053-05:00

Saint Valentines Day 2010. Seems like a pretty good day to launch the new boat from Parker Marine. It's being launched at Riverside Marine in Fort Pierce FL. It's colder than normal but a small crowd is gathered for the occasion. Reuel called me earlier this week and said that it would go in today and I made sure I could be here. the boat had been moved over to where the travel lift could pick it up and was hanging over the keel/centerboard prior to installing the board.

Both masts are hooked up and rigged ready for raising.

This shot shows the butt of the main mast and the main tabernacle. Also visible are the pin rails and the vent for the fresh water tank as well as halyards and lazy jacks. You can clearly see the birds mouth construction of the mast here.

Here is the fore mast tabernacle and the electric winch which will serve to raise the masts and also to control the centerboard. There is still some weather proofing of the winch to come.

A view of the winch and its' control pendant from the aft side. This was my position for about an hour and a half while the boat was lowered down and the centerboard was jacked/pulled up into the trunk. Up a little ,no too much, no a little more, fwd the boat, back the boat ,up,down.....
Here is a view of the board ready to go in. This board is fabricated of ten gauge steel filled with lead. When it is fully down it is the shape of a fin keel foil, when up the boat has 30" draft.

Everyone finally had there tongue on the right side of their mouth and the deed was done. A little bottom paint over the pivot shaft retaining plates and ready to go.

The board is about 1/2 down at this point.

Here the skeg and rudder are visible. The rudder is balanced for better control with a lighter helm and an end plate for better flow.

Here goes.
Sitting in the slings checking everything out. I took some video of this and will try and put it on You Tube later.

Very pretty.
Floating nicely on her lines. There is still several hundred pounds of trim ballast to go in.

Firing off the engine for sea trials.

I was happy to go along for the first trip out into the ICW to check things out. That's Reuel at the helm.

The happy skipper.
Cruising along at about 8 knots, very little wake.

Amy, who has been doing varnish and paint and upholstery and....... This view is from the cockpit into the aft cabin.
Port side aft over the reefer.

Moving forward, the cooker.
Further forward, a cabinet over the galley sink.

The sink itself.

Cabinet below the sink and the aft end of the centerboard trunk.

Above the forward end of the starboard dinette are book shelves.

The dinette table.
The starboard aft end of the cabin.

The engine lives under the cockpit sole and behind the companionway steps.

Our escort vessel for the excursion.

Into the slip where she will be completed in the coming weeks. I will update in a few days when I get to go for a sail. YES

Progress On the Tiki 8ms

2009-12-30T17:38:00.046-05:00

I have been very busy here lately and have a lot of photos of the Tiki 8m in progress.They aren't all in exact order but will illustrate the process. The companionway hatches are right and left handed, unfortunately we only got the mold for the port hull. We will have to build a mold for the starboard side. This photo shows the hatch mold with gelcoat applied.

The masts have been delivered to us and are ready to be stepped and rigged.

This hole is for the forestay bridle.

These are the beam lashing cleats. We have over-drilled the bolt holes and packed them with high density filler and glass fibers. These bolts go through the hull/deck joint.

Below are the beam locating blocks. they are made of Coosa board. This is a high density polyurethane foam reinforced with fiberglass fibers.

Here you can see we have prepped the deck areas where the beam locating blocks will be bonded.

Here the blocks have been glued down to the deck. We used epoxy to attach these blocks for it's superior strength and secondary bonding characteristics. After the epoxy kicks we will fillet the blocks into the deck with polyester putty and gelcoat. Then we will sand and polish them for a smooth finish.

We built these beams from divinycell foam and unidirectional glass fibers and carbon fabric.

Below you can see the flange that will support the cockpit. We have also started to build the brackets to support the jib winches.

Where ever hardware is attached to these beams we must "pot" the fastener. This entails overdrilling the fastener and filling the area with a mixture of hi-density filler and glass fibers.
The pots for the mast step bolts are visible here.

This photo shows the winch brackets and the pots for the mainsheet traveller track and the cockpit support flanges.

In this shot we are gluing the beam locating blocks onto the bottom of the beams. First we had to align and level the hulls.Then we put thin spacers in place to achieve the desired clearance. Then we apply epoxy and clamp the beams in place and clean up the squeeze-out.

Now we can lash the beams in place. We are launching this boat in an incomplete state so that we can verify everything is just so before final paint. These two boats have been modified from the original design in several ways and we want to be sure that everything works perfectly for our customer.

One of the modifications required is that the boat must maneuver in reverse under power in tight quarters.This is not one of the Tiki's strong points. In order to accomplish this we have removed the skegs and are fabricating kick-up rudders. This will enable us to size the rudder for adequate turning force and allow us to put some counterbalance area forward of the rudder shaft. This is much more complicated than the stock rudder design but is what our client requires. Here we are working on the upper end of the rudders. One of the lower blades is visible on the bench under the grinders.

These rudder parts are built of Coosa board and then sheathed with carbon fiber.

The upper parts of the rudders, the cases, are drilled for the lashings. These are potted just like holes for hardware.

Here we are using pvc pipe as a form for the tiller receivers.

We are using a square and a level to drill the holes in the stern post for the rudder lashings.

These holes go through solid glass and don't need potting. The are painted with gelcoat to seal them and are then sanded and polished.

Here the rudders have been lashed on and a blade has been inserted.

Here we are gluing in the gussets under the deck below where the mast beam is attached. These gussets will help prevent wracking from the mast loads. Under the aft beam attachment is a structural bulkhead that provides support.

Here we are gluing in the ash staving for cabin ceiling.You just can't have too many clamps.

We have made some teak ladders for cabin access.

In the meantime we have also been working on the cockpit.

In addition to the normal cockpit these boats have an aft station for the captain. Here is a view of this part upside down in progress.

We have now added glass to the bottom of the captain's station.

Here is the topside view of the captain's station showing the foot well and the pots for mounting bolts.

In this photo we have just glued the window into the frame. We use Sikaflex for this. The small blocks are super glued to the paper film on the acrylic to hold it in place while the first application of Sika dries. In the morning we will remove the blocks and top off the Sika and tool it for a nice smooth finish.

We have now brought the boat to our local municipal ramp for launching and sea trials.

Here she goes!

Around the corner to the beach and up with the mast and on with the sails.

We have some adjustments to make but she moves along nicely and we are very pleased.

Reuel Parker's Ibis Revisited

2009-12-29T17:58:00.017-05:00

Reuel has been back in Fort Pierce for a little over a month now. I was able to get away for a few hours the other day to go up and visit with him and see the progress on his almost completed 45' sharpie Ibis.

She is really looking good at this point, almost ready to taste some salt water.

This shot of the rudder shows the 30" draft, the counter balanced rudder, and the rudder endplate.

Behind the boat the centerboard waits to be installed. This board is very heavy. It is made of plate steel over web frames and filled with lead and epoxy. As you can see from the shape when it is lowered it is a NASA foil section fin. This will probably be a very well sailing sharpie.

At the bow is an A-frame of stainless steel tubing.This will serve to raise and lower the tabernackled masts when raised to a vertical position and will serve as a bow pulpit when it is lowered to a more horizontal position.

Reuel knows the benefits of adequate ventilation in a boat in the tropics. The boat has many hatches and opening portlights.

Here is one of the mast tabernackles.

Moving aft the bimini is installed, a dodger is forthcoming. The cockpit will have cushions of 2" closed cell foam. There will be some seats mounted aft P&S for the helmsman.

This is the forward cabin.

Aft is the head. This boat has both cabins and the head in the forward house. The galley and saloon are in the aft house. In between are two substantial storage holds.

Looking out the main companionway into the cockpit.

Here is the fwd end of the galley and the dinette.

Boats are certainly very personal and one flavor won't suit everybody. This is a very simple basic cruising boat. One that is set up for extended cruising for a couple or a small family to have lots of fun on and be able to go places that many other boats of this size can't go, both in the water and on the highway. This boat at 12,000 lbs and 10' beam can be trailered quite easily so cruising the Bahamas this year and the Sea of Cortez next year would certainly be an option. I will be visiting this project more in the coming weeks.

Tiki 8 meter catamaran moveing forward

2009-10-23T15:12:00.006-04:00

With the hulls well underway we have started building the decks. They are much more complex pieces to build as there are lots of facets and corners. Again we are using 3/8" divinycell foam as coring and vacuum bagging it in place.

Here we are laminating the two hull halves together with bi-axial tapes.

Three of the four hulls out of the mold. These colors had to be specially mixed to the PMS #s given to us by the hotel.

This deck is just sitting atop the hull for us to visualize the interior space that we had to work with to modify the liner mold to accommodate a marine head

Wharram's Tiki 8 meter catamaran in US Production

2009-09-24T14:19:00.026-04:00

We have started building our first fiberglass Wharram. James and Haneke had a set of molds built based on their very popular Tiki 26. They built one boat and for various reasons the project fizzled. Earlier this year we had the molds shipped to us here in Jupiter from England. The molds were in pretty good shape but we spent many hours fairing to improve the quality of the finished parts. Below is one half of a hull mold. The hull is laid up in two halves and then taped together down the center line. After waxing and waxing and then a little more waxing we spayed red gelcoat onto the surface of the mold. After this tacks off we applied a layer of 3/4 oz chopped strand mat (csm). This bonds well to the gel coat and helps prevent print through form the structural laminates. Earlier this year a fellow named Bill Holmes joined our team as a carpenter. Less then two months later we signed a contract for these two FRP boats. "Holmsey" has worked for several large fiberglass sail boat builders in the past and brings a wealth of experience and expertise to our program. It's funny how things work out sometimes.

After the mat sets up we apply a layer of 1708 fiberglass. This is a layer of csm backing two layers of unidirectional fibers oriented at +/- 45' to the length of the fabric. This biaxial fabric is much stiffer for a given weight than woven cloth.

These outer layers of fiber are applied using vinylester resin which provides protection from osmotic blisters. After the 1708 skin sets we then vacuum bag a layer of 3/8" Divnycell foam into the hull half.

The picture below is after the bag came off with some of the pvc bleeder manifolds still visible. You can also see where the vacuum has pulled resin through the perforations in the foam. These holes are to ensure that no air becomes trapped between the foam and the laminate. The craftsman in the photo is Bill Holmes.

After the foam another layer of 3/4 oz mat and another layer of 1708 complete this hull half.

Once the two hull halves are ready the molds are bolted together along the center line flanges. There are locating dimples that key the two halves into precise orientation.

The next step is two apply 5 layers of 1708 fibers to the center line. IN the photo below the bolts have not all been drawn up, hence the daylight visible at the bow.

A very poor picture shows the first mold coming off the hull.

Our first hull is complete. Very exciting. Our shop is jam packed at the moment. We are delivering the sportfish interior we have been building for the last several months next week which will free up a lot of space. Then we will have room to start assembling the boats

Boatsmith: U.S. Wharram Catamaran Builder

2009-07-06T18:07:00.007-04:00

Last year, Boatsmith determined that there was a growing U.S. market for professionally built Wharram sailing catamarans and build a Tiki 30 demo boat. We took this boat to the Wooden Boat Show in Mystic, CT for inspection by James Wharram and Hanneke Boone of James Wharram Designs. James was honored at the show at a tribute dinner as a modern multihull pioneer along with Jim Brown, Dick Newick, Meade Gougeon, Walter Green, Jim Marples, and Barry Choy.
Wharram Designs have professional builders in Asia, but until now have never entered into an agreement with a professional builder in the USA. James and Hanneke were very favorably impressed with our Tiki 30 and commented that they need more boats built like this. Following the show, we entered into a licensing agreement with James Wharram Designs and are pleased to be their official, professional Wharram Catamaran builder in the U.S.

We've been busy over the last year exhibiting our Tiki 30 at boatshows and Wharram gatherings. The response to this boat has been very positive and we have received several orders for new builds.

Speedboat is for Sale

2009-06-14T09:24:00.007-04:00

We have hauled our Tiki 30 out for fresh bottom paint. We are in Cracker Boy Boatworks in Riviera Beach FL. The "Crack" has the deepest water of any boatyard in South FL and so we get to see lots of way cool race boats, particularly in the winter.This boat was shown here several months ago after Branson's failed Transat record attempt. Apparently the boats owner has had a change in his financial condition and now needs to sell the boat. I was told they have $35 million into the boat and are unable to attract buyers at substantially less. So the boat has been separated from her keel and is being strapped down to the ground in preparation for the hurricane season.

Above she looks like the biggest racing dinghy you ever saw,which is pretty much just what she is. Below is her keel still upright in the cradle. 18' of canting keel. WOW

She comes with her own workshop container as well. That's the boom wrapped up on top of the container. Should someone be interested in this boat I can hook you up with contacts. But I want a ride. David

Boatsmith Visits Reuel Parker Schooner Project

2009-06-14T08:32:00.003-04:00

I posted some photos a while back on an unusual situation. Kenny Brandon commissioned Reuel Parker and Parker Marine Enterprises to build a 50' centerboard "sharpie-batoue" schooner. Having talked with both Kenny and Reuel I still don't fully understand what really happened. The short version is that Kenny worked with Reuel and crew and they built this boat in 1992. When the boat was launched and sailable Kenny took the boat from Port Saint Lucie to Crescent City on the Saint Johns River and parked it. The boat had no interior and needed lots of work to be called complete. She was sailable but Reuel says that the rig was somewhat expiremental and still needs some work to realize it's potential. The sails are basicaly new. The mian problem with the rig appears to be with the gooseneck/boom setup. They were concieved as an interpertation of sprits and Having seen them I would agree that some more conventional gooseneck/boom setup would work much better. The motor and transmission have very low hours~70. The interior has benn dabbled at some over the years but for all intents and purposes is not there. The main cabin bulkheads are stuctural were installed at the time of the original build but the smaller parts and trim all need to be fabricated and installed. The boat is layed out, as are most of Parker's larger designs , with two seperate cabins. The forward cabin has a fore peak and a stateroom and a head and shower. The aft cabin is taken up by space for a dinnette, galley, large pilot berth and saloon . There are also two hull ports for underwater viewing in this cabin. Outside the paint has essentialy gone away. There are some minor blisters near the port stern where Kenny made a repair after the davits were hit by another boat. Other than that the exterior survaces look pretty good under the failing paint. This boat won't appeal to everyone but I believe it is a real opportunnity for the right person. After having said all of this , I would highly reccomend that someone with serious interest only prceed aftre a haulout and a thorough survey. The boat is I believe restorable to fine yacht status, but it is a fifty foot schooner and if nothing major needs rebuilding is will still require a substantial investment of resources, time and money. If we continue to sell boats and stay busy I would consider this a good project for our shop to undertake, again after doing a complete out of the water survey. Fair winds, David

2009-04-22T19:08:00.051-04:00

Here are some photos. I will put up some comments tomorrow

Reul Parker Project for Sale

2009-04-20T14:23:00.013-04:00

This months issue of Wooden Boat magazine has a 55' schooner listed for sale in the save a classic section. Seems the fellow had Parker Marine build this boat for hm in the early 90's and never got around to completing the interior. He has decided the time has come to let this vessel move onto an owner with the enthusiasm and wherewithal to complete her. Here are some additional photos that the owner has sent me. I will be visiting this boat tomorrow afternoon and will take lots more photos and share. This might be a great opportunity for someone. David

Teak and Holly sole for a nice Tollycraft in Palm Beach

2009-03-22T12:11:00.018-04:00

Recently the owner of this very nicely maintained 65' Tollycraft asked us to install a Teak and holly sole in the galley, saloon, fwd passageway and stairs, as well as all three staterooms.

We have done lots of other work on this yacht over the last several years. We installed new swim platform decking, recaulked and sanded the teak decks and repaired an area in the pilot house roof that had some delamination and core deterioration due to water entry.

After measuring the job we built the teak and holly panels. The holly is really maple these days.

Lots of parts for this job. Our "kilos"(lead shot) work very well.

Steps down into the owners stateroom.

Half the challenge on a job like this is not to damage any existing finishes while completing the installation. Everything around you is either varnished or fabric and extreme care is needed to protect surfaces.

The middle cabin before sanding.

The fwd cabin around the bunk corner.

Part of the challenge is to keep the lines all lined up between cabins and around hatches and up and down stairs.

The fwd cabin bunk corner ready for sanding.

Stairs from the pilot house down into the galley.

The fwd head showing a teak riser we fabricated and installed.

The middle cabin after varnish.

Stairs from the pilothouse down to the fwd cabins.

Looking aft into the saloon from the galley.

Looking fwd towards the pilothouse.

Viking Sport Cruiser Teak Cabin Sole

2009-03-22T11:15:00.019-04:00

After the Fort Lauderdale boat show Viking Yachts asked us to install a teak sole in one of their 63' sport cruisers. The new boat had been sold to a client from Venezuela and the client wanted the carpet removed and teak installed to match what was already existing in the galley and part of the helm station. Naturally we had a very limited time frame in which to accomplish our work and had to work around lots of other craftsmen doing additional work per the owners requirements.

Our crew worked through two weekends in order to install all of the wood and get it varnished in time. Twelve calender days is pretty quick for a job like this. Viking is a good customer for us so we turned to and got it done in time.

It's not very common for us to install a solid teak sole. People usually want a teak and holly sole.

The floor came out nicely and we hope that the owner is very happy with it.

Speedboat

2009-03-22T10:25:00.007-04:00

This beautiful boat has been sitting on the hard at Cracker Boy Boatworks for several months now. The scuttle is that the owners financial situation has changed for the worse. This is the boat that Richard Branson chartered for a foiled Trans Atlantic record attempt some months back, hence the Virgin Money graphics.

Very hard to get good photos due to the sheer size of this vessel.

Draft is 18' of canting carbon fibre strut with a way cool bulb on the bottom. Also not as clear in this photo is the new fangled T drive system. The prop and shaft hinge down from the bottom for a clean underwater profile. Only not so new. It is remarkably similar to the designs developed by the Dispro Boat Co. about 100 years ago for there small rowboats and canoes.

Just one more shot. When we're out sailing around in lake Worth (part of the ICW in Palm Beach) you can see this red hull up in its cradle for quite a distance.

Completing Panagea's teak deck and covering boards

2008-10-19T18:48:00.024-04:00

We are closing in on completing our work on this superyacht. Pangaea was relaunched yesterday and then sea trialed and was pretty much unavailable to us so we had the day off.

In addition to the new teak decking and the teak decking repairs on this boat we have also contracted to fabricate and install teak covering boards and coamings on the new swim platform. Like everything else on this superyacht the swim platform is super sized as well. It is 14' long and enclosed with full bulwarks with boarding doors on each side and a pair of large doors in the transom. Below we are laminating the starboard aft corner of the coaming.

Here you can see the aft doors and the port side door as well as the size of covering boards and coamings.

The notch in the covering board is to allow the aft door ,when open, to be in line with the covering board and latch open.

Below is the covering board return. This part was made thicker and framed to visually provide some differentiation. It was also installed level so as to function as sort of an end table.

In addition to installing about 1200 sq ft of new teak decking we also were asked to sand the existing decks and repair the seam caulking as required.

The view from your knees where we spent a lot of time. From this angle it seems like acres of teak decks.

There are five deck levels on this yacht that have teak decks. From the top they are the sundeck, the bridge deck, the owners deck, the main deck, and the swim platform. The two pictures below show the port side and aft areas of the bridge deck.

These next two shots show the main deck cockpit and the starboard main side deck. It's frequently difficult for us to get good pictures of our work because as soon as we complete an area it gets covered with protective material so that other tradesmen can move in and complete their work, and then it's dark, and then the boat leaves. Oh well.

This photo show the starboard side of the owners deck.

Below is the sun deck. The pipes are for bar stools that haven't yet arrived and the stainless steel angle is the base for the new bar.

Here is Pangaea returning from a sea trial. She is certainly a pretty yacht and we have enjoyed the opportunity to be part of this project.

Beat and Beatrize's Tiki 38 set for launch

2008-09-17T14:20:00.009-04:00

Beat has moved his hulls to the waterside in preperation for launching.

He has parts scattered around and we left our job a liitle early so that we could come by and help muscle the beams and cockpits and the pod into place.

First we installed the beams and then lowered the pod down.

Handing up the spars for later installation.

Below the crew gathers for a group shot.

Happy captain

The launch is scheduled for dawn on Sunday the 21st at the launch ramp at the San Leandro marina. It will definately be a momentous occasion.

Boatsmith's Pacific Coast Facility

2008-09-13T19:17:00.012-04:00

August 18, 2008

We needed to transport ourselves and our tools to California for a big deck job. We also needed transportation and office space while we are in Alameda working.Sort of a base.

As long as were at it , why not some walls, and howsabouta roof.

This southern yellow pine t&g was leftovers anyway.

Some lexan windows and a teak faced door and some shingles,

Presto, a genuine old hippie wagon from back when.

Currently only ROUGH interior bunks and dinette with a little air conditioner and a shelf for a small generator.

This rig brings out a lot of smiles. way cool

Teak deck for Pangaea 191' expidition yacht

2008-08-24T17:15:00.017-04:00

August 18 2008

We are fabricating and installing new teak decks for several areas of the motor yacht Pangaea. Boatsmith is working for Bay Ship & Yacht at their Alameda California facility.

Here is the boat under its shrink wrap/scaffold tent. Pangaea is hauled out on a dolly on tracks that cross connect with a large scyncrolift.

We flew to Ca and made patterns and crated and shipped them back to Fl. Below is one of the piles of teak lumber used on this job.

The photo below shows us building panels. We use starboard spacers with aluminum flat bars and wooden wedges to clamp every thing up tight and straight.

Here's a larger scale view of 1/2 of one area of teak decking

Below shows sections where most of the spacers are removed after gluing on small strips of wood to hold the spacing and alignment of the individual planks. Then we fill the caulk seams with a one part silicone deck caulk from Maritime Wood Products in Stuart Fl.

Some panels made up to "finger" into the existing teak.

When the caulk cured the panels are sanded flat and smooth on a wide drum sander.
Below is about half the decking for the Pangaea

The next step is to mill out the margin stock and fit margins all around the perimeter and any mid deck protrusions. Then all of the material will be crated and shipped to Bay Ship and Yacht's Alameda Shipyard.

TEAK DECKS ON A LARGE CUSTOM EXPEDITION YACHT FOR BAY SHIP & YACHT IN CALIFORNIA

2008-08-24T16:16:00.013-04:00

August 26, 2008

Here we are back at the motor yacht Pangaea currently in for refurbishing and enlargement at Bay Ship and Yacht in California. The boat is mostly painted and the staging is coming down in a few days.It's a long walk up to the sun deck, about six flights.

The shot below shows the sundeck. There used to be a hot tub in the center of this deck. This has been eliminated in favor of a large horse shoe shaped bar. We are removing enough of the existing teak planking to be able to fit in new deck planks so as to keep the same butt pattern and render the new decking indistinguishable from the original decking.

We also were requested to complete the repairs to the plywood sub deck and fairing required before installing the teak deck. In the photo below you can see the base frame for the new bar.

Here we are cutting back existing planking in a staggered pattern to conform to the existing deck. The pipes are part of the staging and are quite in the way as well as hordes of other craftsman trying to complete their work in the same area at the same time. Just a little bit more challenging than normal.

The bar base and bar stools. The sub deck is installed.

Nicely built Wharram Tiki 38 in San Francisco

2008-07-15T16:14:00.027-04:00

Boatsmith has a contract to fabricate and install new teak decking on several areas of the 190' motor yacht Pangaea. This boat is currently at Bay Ship and Yacht yard in Alameda California undergoing a major refit. I was very happy to get this job as I've worked many years for this company in times past. We have lots of friends in the bay area and it is a chance to visit and reconnect with them. I flew out to California the weekend of the 4th of July to make patterns of the new teak decks. The patterns were then crated up and shipped back to Jupiter FL for fabrication. Once complete we will drive out to Alameda for the installation.

One very special bonus of this trip was that I was able to hook up with Beat Rettenmund who along with his partner Beatrice Restrepo and her mom Arisili (I hope I spelled that right) are building a wonderful example of James Wharram Designs Tiki 38. Over the years I've seen many Wharram catamarans and honestly most did not impress me favorably as to the quality of workmanship.

Beat and Beatrice's Tiki 38 is finished off to a very simple level but is very craftsman like in every detail. To me a yacht is a vessel where anywhere you look you see something that makes you say,wow look how nicely that was done. They have accomplished this in a most admirable manner. They stayed focused on their goals and have built a truly marvelous yacht that is almost ready to take them where ever they so desire.

I was invited to the build sight by Beat to checkout their boat and "talk madly about boats, the sea and mermaids". A not everyday invite. This was my first day with a new camera and due to my excitement over the boat and my electronic ineptitude many of my pictures were not very good but I will share the ones that turned out.

The "CULPRITS"

Beat, Beatrice, and Arisili

Cat eyes. Most of the windows have some sort of decorative shape to them

Below I am in the pod and looking into the stbd companionway.

Here you can see the watch berth and the storage below the seats. The pod seems to be a very nice space on the boat. The wheel steering is here, and good shelter for making passages to weather. Forward of the pod there is an open cockpit with outboard wells under the seats. Beat has purchased 15hp E-tech motors and plans on installing these in place of the gas power heads on two outboard motors. I am looking forward to seeing these when completed.

One detail I was very impressed with was the simple solution to a galley cooker. It is very easy to spend hundreds of dollars on a proper marine stove and still not have an ideal setup. This cooker costs $70 at Harbor Freight and works at least as well as most marine stoves. Okay, so maybe it will rust out in a year or two, but it can be replaced several times for the cost of even the most inexpensive equivalent marine stove. As George Beuhler said in Backyard Boatbuilding, you can go sailing cheaply now or be a melon farmer forever while building the perfect museum piece boat. It would appear to me that Beat and Beatrice are definitely not melon farmers.

Everywhere I looked on Aluna I saw clever little things that will make the boat much more pleasant to sail on. Below are pictures of the stbd companionway ladder. In the photo on the left, you can see that there is an additional step added below what the plans called for. Beat said he noticed that it was a very large first step and designed and built this lower step to alleviate this. I tried it out and it is a very nice improvement. I would certainly recommend this to other Tiki 38 builders.

Beat and Beatrice have about 6,000 hours invested in this project over five years.One way they have kept their hours reasonable is they have left the interior with a natural finish. They were careful with their epoxy and fiberglass reinforcement applications and didn't sand and fair the insides for paint. The result is utilitarian and clean. It also saved them many hundreds of hours, hours spent sanding, which is not most peoples favorite pastime.
The photos above and below are of the cabin interiors and you can see the workmanlike manner in which the filleting has been done.

Here is a little detail I wish we had used on our Tiki 30.Beat ran his wiring for his lights and fans thru the foam core of the deck. Very clean.

The two pictures below are of the outboard mounts.

Here's a shot of the forward deck.

This is a close up of the anchor rollers.
This photo shows the frame of the aft boarding ladder.It will get wooden treads lashed into the center area.

Sometime ago, Beat and Beatrice were able to go sailing with Glenn Tieman aboard
Manu Rere, a Tama Moana design from Hanneke Boon and James Wharram.This is a relatively new ethnic design and is powered by two crab claw sails. This is a very old sail plan design that has seen somewhat of a resurgence of interest in the last few years. While cruising on Manu Rere Beat became a new convert to the crab claw rig and is installing this sail rig on Aluna.

Part of the appeal of the crab claw rig is the simplicity,the low tech materials and the associated low cost . Below are the pine saplings that are becoming spars. I have not had the opportunity to sail one of these rigs and am hoping that I can finagle a ride.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and am looking forward to going back to California next month for our job and especially to revisit Aluna Beat and Beatrice. I hope that everyone enjoys this post.

Completing Reuel Parkers 14' periagua

2008-05-16T16:17:00.007-04:00

We are finishing this little boat off today so we can play with in the keys this weekend. We are going to Islamorada to attend the Wharram rendezvous. Here we have turned the boat back upright and installed seats and are working on a small foredeck.

Reuel added this skeg to help the boat track better. The original design didn't have one to facilitate better maneuverability in the crowded harbors where it earned its keep.

We're painting the hull after we painted the inside. We have also installed oarlock sockets on the rails. I'll put some action shots up with a performance review come Monday.

Rapid progress on a Reuel Parker periagua

2008-05-10T20:02:00.014-04:00

We had a good day today in the Boatsmith shop.We scarphed the plywood together and cut out the bow and stern transoms. It's a lot like the Sabot I built when I was thirteen, just stretched out a few feet. It sure goes faster with epoxy.

Here we have set the bottom and transoms and the frames on a table with blocks underneath to establish the rocker.

We then offered up some 1/4" plywood for the sides. Once they were scribed and cut out we glued them in place with super glue and little blocks of wood to hold the shape while we made epoxy fillets. A fair amount of attention was required at this point to adjust everything so that it all ended up fair and sweet.

Twas mighty warm in the Boatsmith shop today (98 degrees). The only advantage and sometime disadvantage is that epoxy goes off really fast. This means that you can't dawdle but it also means (as we prefer fast hardener) that you can really truck. Here we have epoxy filleted the inside of the hull.

In this shot we have taped the outside corners with 1708 6" tape and then quickly applyed a coat of microballoons tp fair the cloth in. This tape is on the heavy side but will make for a more durable hull and appling the micro ballons while the epoxy is still semicured saves us from having to sand pure fiberglass in between. All in all pretty good.

Jim Smith classic

2008-05-10T19:40:00.004-04:00

Sometimes it seems that getting pictures of our work is real hard.This boat was built by Jim Smith Tournament Boats back in the early eighties as the Miss Broadbill.She is a 60' express model. Forward of the main cockpit is a mezzanine deck under which big motors live.Then you continue fwd and go down into the cabin.This makes for a relatively low profile with a surprising amount of interior for an express boat. Sorry about the lack of more pictures ,my battery said adios at this point. We installed teak decks on the bridge, the mezzanine and in the main cockpit of this great boat a liitle over a year ago as well as the covering boards and coamings. WE went up to Jacksonville FL this week to perform some maintenance and took this shot. Areal classic wooden boat well loved and well cared for. The teak in this picture was bleached just the day before and is now ready to be sanded smooth once again.

Building a Reuel Parker Periagua 14

2008-05-07T19:48:00.009-04:00

I was up in Fort Pierce, FL last week to see his progress on the 45' sharpie schooner Ibis, and he showed me the small craft he is planning on using as a tender for her. It was a 14' periagua that he designed based on an old Swedish work boat. The originals had no skeg and would pivot readily. Reuel added the skeg to enhance the tracking ability of the boat.

You can see the pronounced rocker in this photo and in the photo below notice the skeg and narrow beam. Reuel says that he is very pleased with both the rowing performance and the weight carrying ability of this boat.

Another attractive feature of this tender is the all up weight is about 65 lbs.

The oarlock receivers have been changed from the plans because although they made effective outriggers they were very cumbersome and inconvenient with respect to handling and storage.

This boat also has slightly different seat/thwarts than on the plans.

All in all i was very favorably impressed with this boat and decided that it would make a great tender for the Wharram Tiki 30 that we're currently building. I will keep you posted as we build this delightful little boat.

Van deStadt Sailing Yacht by Hans Lukat for sale

2008-05-06T17:44:00.015-04:00

This is a very nice very clean boat offered for sale by the owner builder. But this is not just any builder. It was built by Hans Lukat of Stuart Fl. Hans immigrated from Germany about 50 years ago and was already an accomplished boat builder and sailor. He spent a short while in Newport Beach Ca. before moving to Stuart. He went to work at Whittaker Boat Works, stayed there for 47 years, and retired just 3 years ago as the head carpenter. Whittaker Boat Works has been around for quite a while and has built a reputation for building some of the world's finest wooden sportfishing boats. Hans built this boat for his personal use and launched her in 1976. While he was younger and a bit more spry, he raced her throughout south Florida quite successfully, enough so that his PHRF rating was adjusted downward several times.

I became aware of this boat when Hans' son, Garry came to work with us at Boatsmith several years ago. Garry Lukat is also a very skilled and talented yacht carpenter and helped build this fine boat.

Hans is now well into his 80's and he no longer can sail this boat like he would like to, hence this special opportunity.

These pictures on the hard were taken May 5th 2008 in Stuart and show that the boat has been maintained to the highest standards.

The paint is shiny fresh Awlgrip, the varnish is spectacular and everything works like it's supposed to.

The photo above shows the forepeak where you can see the fuel tank and fuel filter. You can also see the level of finish that is evident throughout this fine vessel. Below is a shot of the portside settee. There is an identical settee to starboard with the same style of storage cubbies.

Below is a picture of the NEW 18hp Yanmar diesel engine. Sorry the photo is so bad.

Here is the galley with a two burner Primus alcohol stove.

Here is a view of the cockpit. Hans tells me that the sails are in very good shape as he has used the boat only lightly since buying new ones.

The vital statistics on this fine boat are listed below.

Length 31 ft

Beam 9 ft
Draft 5 ft
Weight 6500 lbs (Ballast 2500 lbs lead)
Construction cold molded Honduran mahogany
Mast sitka spruce
Designer Van de Stadt

If this finely built and well maintained sailing yacht piques your interest, you may contact Hans directly at 772 -335-2161. Hans tells me he is asking $25,000 but he is willing to talk. If this boat is your cup of tea then maybe your ship has come in.

Fitting teak deck panels coamings and covering boards

2008-04-23T18:13:00.014-04:00

We've been working hard all of last week , thru the weekend, and the first part of this week trying to get this project done so the owner could take his new 60' Hatteras sportfishing yacht to the islands for the Bahamas billfish tournament this weekend. In this first picture we have glued down more of the deck panels.Each panel has been built exactly to the width required to fit between hinges and hatch edges.We start gluing in the center and then work out towards both sides.

While we have been gluing the deck panels we have also milled out the material for the coamings.These coamings are functional as well as beautiful. When the fisherman is working in the cockpit landing or releasing a fish, he can wedge his knees under the bottom and lock himself in freeing both hands for use.

In this photo you can see two pieces of bullnose margins for the steps from the cockpit up to the cabin door. Also visible are the routers we used to rabbet out the backside.It's easier and faster to have lots of routers set up with the various required bits rather than changing bits for the many cuts needed.

Layed out and ready to start making noise, dust,and pretty parts.

After the noise and dust here are the rough parts ready to be fit on site and radiused and sanded.

Here we have glued on the first side covering board.We have to shape blocks for clamping down the outboard edge and clamp these blocks in to keep them from rolling up.

Before we started gluing on the covering boards we had to fit in the corner pieces.These are cut with a very slight taper and sanded to fit.Very time consuming, several hours for each.After the corners are fit we sand the top edge of the coaming with a long hard block to ensure a tight fit between the coaming and the covering board. Later we will shape this corner piece to flow into the coamings and the covering boards.

This is a view of the forward end of the port side coaming.This new Hatteras yacht has an extra kink in the coaming.Just a little something extra to make it more of a challenge.

This shot sows the margins for the mezzanine.The bullnose pieces are milled out of 12/4 teak lumber.

We're closing in now. We have glued and clamped the aft covering board to the boat. We still have to cut across the board in two places for the tuna door but we prefer to do this after the board is epoxied down securely.Several years ago we cut one before we glued it down and just as we finished the first cut the board exploded and within 3 minutes had split several times from end to end , a lot of expensive trash.We had used wider strakes to make up the board and when we disturbed the equilibrium the stress in the laminate just shredded the fibers of the teak.Part of the learning process.

the picture below shows the decking almost completed on the mezzanine.

Here we have installed all of the teak decking and the covering boards and coamings. The tuna door has been cut and rehinged. we still have some detailing to do .The tuna door hinge is not correct and we will have to build and polish a new one.But right now we are off the boat while the owner takes his boat back to play with.We will have to wait several weeks until they return from the Bahamas to complete the final touches.

Laminated coaming and aft margin

2008-04-13T19:44:00.005-04:00

Here we have pulled the coaming off the mold and it's laying next to the cover board. Both of these pieces stll need lots of shaping before being attached to the boat. On the right is a stack of deck panels ready to fit and install on the same boat. These panels are fabricated to fit exactly between the edges of the hatches and the hinges. We do this by adjusting the width of the indavidual planks. your eye won't see this and it eliminates extra seams and cuts in the finished deck. This is the aft margin board for the deck.This has also been resawn and then laminated back together on the same mold to match the cover board and coaming. It's subtle but when it is all completed ties everything together very nicely. Next week we will continue installing deck panels and glue on the coamings.

Teak decks being installed and curved covering boards get laminated

2008-04-12T19:03:00.000-04:00

Alright, here is the aft cover board and it came out very well. The glue lines

are virtually invisible and it looks like we found a bent log to mill this board out of.

These are the first two deck panels installed with epoxy in the cockpit. You can see the bags of lead shot we use to hold them down while the glue dries.Also in this shot are a couple of other tricks which make sure everything stays in the right place. On the forward margin(border) you can see small pieces of wood (tongue depressors) that are glued on with super glue. We put the glue on the small piece of wood , Then spray the accelerator on the teak and then press the little piece to the teak, hold it a second or so and it will hold temporarily but pop off with a chisel and just break thru the glue line without damaging the teak. The little blocks along the sides of the panels are attached in the same manner.

Now we are forming the aft coaming on the same molds we used for the cover board.This board is 2" thick and would take a ferocious amount of pressure to clamp into the required curve. We resaw a 5/8" slice off the back side and then laminate them back together on the mold. We only slice the one piece off because we need to keep this glue line under the cover board far enough to stay out of sight.This junction of cover board and coaming will get a large radius and and we don't want to go thru the glue line on a bias because then the glue line would be quite noticeable.

Teak cockpit for a new Hatteras sportfishing yacht.

2008-04-09T17:49:00.019-04:00

One of the mainstays of our business is installing teak decks and covering boards on high end sportfishing yachts. Here in Jupiter we are close by many custom builders and also are a destination/jumping off location for boats coming down from the north for the winter.

Currently we are fabricating and installing a teak deck and covering board/coaming for a new 60' Hatteras sportfisher.We have developed a style of covering board/coaming that we call the Palm Beach style. Traditionally very wide teak boards are used for covering boards.These boards are very expensive and are only available with lots of flat grain in the board. Flat grain boards are inherently unstable and very prone to checks and splits, especially around penetrations such as rod holders and hawse pipes.This is sometimes dealt with by fiberglassing the bottom side of the covering board before it is installed. Our belief is that we are epoxying the teak to a fiberglass panel on the boat . A teak to fiberglass epoxy glue joint is a teak to fiberglass epoxy glue joint.

Hatteras sportfishers have a very pronounced sheer in both the vertical and fore and aft directions. We have a technique that was developed specifically to address both the large curvature and to minimize checks and splits. We purchase rough slabs of teak that are from the center of plain sawn logs that are very straight grained and as clear from all natural irregularities as possible. Then we resaw the boards to bookmatch them and then resaw them in the other direction to a width appropriate for the curve of the transom.

The first step is to make accurate templates of the shapes required. This helps us pick out boards that we can use and avoid knots, lightning marks, bug holes and other blemishes.

Then its off to the lumber dealer to sort through piles of teak slabs looking for just the right ones for this project.This is fun because you see many beautiful boards, yet a bit stressful because these boards are pricey and they all have the potential to have bad surprises inside

Once we have the boards and have laid them out its time for cutting. Our shops primary large band saw is this Italian Centauro 800.It has a 5hp motor and it is so far the smoothest cutting band saw I've ever used. It looks like many similar sheet metal saws but is almost a ton of cast iron. The controls are easy and the guides are tough to get aligned just right but every time we shut it down we are saying ,wow what a great saw.

Here we have assembled our bending knees according to the templates plus just a little bit more for spring back.Springback is pretty much a guess, a composite of strake width, strake thickness, curvature, and the number of strakes in the assembly.

Before we can glue the stakes together we plane the edges to get a very tight fitting glue joint. It is a very satisfying thing to take a single shaving off the edge of a board 16' long. After the edges are planed we then sand the very carefully with a small block with 80 grit to give some tooth for better adhesion.

Here the strakes are prepared and on the bending form ready for gluing.

Here you can see the side covering boards, one set glued and clamped, and the other ready for gluing.

Now we have glued and clamped the aft board. The next step will be to form the coamings . That will be in our next post.

2008-03-30T17:36:00.003-04:00

I was asked by a friend to assist a BSA Venture post in building a raft for some friendly competetion on the Loxahatchee river. Ventures are a coed group of kids bettween 15-18 years old that is part of the Boy Scouts of America. I'm currently a cubmaster of Pack 774 in Jupiter FL and of course i said ,sure. We were able to obtain some sono tubes from the recycle depot of the Palm Beach County trash collection and these formed the basis of our design. The kids aren't yet skilled craftsman but have certainly learned some new stuff.

Here they have fiberglassed the tubes together to form two long hulls.They carved points for the bow and plugs for the stern.

You can see the points in this shot as well as the 2x6 stringers on top to recieve the deck.

Here the huuls are completed and painted. Our next build day we will attach the deck and work on a tandem bicycle powered paddle wheel propulsion system. Stay tuned